3 comments:

Jane Greer and Pam Grier. You are a man of taste! Also, I think Elizebeth Pena is not only mesmerizingly beautiful but an underrated actress. Her work in John Sayles' "Lone Star" (one of the greatest films of the 1990s -- not far behind "Miller's Crossing") is magnificent.

Jim, I was eating Japanese food in this little strip mall restaurant with my wife about 10 years ago, and Elizabeth Pena walked in the door and sat down maybe three tables away. This was my Luis Guzman moment-- I was thunderstruck by my good fortune in seeing her, but completely tongue-tied and paralyzed with shyness, and I never said a word to her. I guess this was around the time of Lone Star, though I'd already caught the Pena bug through Down and Out in Beverly Hills, La Bamba and her memorable work as the tough-minded Lucy Acosta, Jamey Sheridan's office assistant, in Sayles' "quirky" detective series TV pilot Shannon's Deal. She is, as you say, a very underrated and undervalued actress.

And have you ever seen seen Jane Greer tussle with Robert Mitchum in Don Siegel's The Big Steal? If not, just let me know how quickly you want a copy, and it's yours!